


Free

by ThePotatoKing



Category: Bleach
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bisexual Male Character, Blood and Gore, Canon Universe, Cat Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Kurosaki Ichigo-centric, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Male Slash, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Post-Canon, Romance, Seme Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, Shameless Smut, Slash, Smut, Uke Kurosaki Ichigo, Violence, Yaoi, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-06-19 03:41:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15501540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePotatoKing/pseuds/ThePotatoKing
Summary: Soul Society is good at keeping people on a leash. It's always Ichigo do this, save that person, fight this hollow. People are good at giving him orders, but does anyone ever stop to ask if it's what he want's to do? It's time he makes his own decisions for once and breaks away from the chains that bind him, not caring about to consequences.





	1. Fondness

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello and welcome to my first Bleach fanfic! I'll keep it short...
> 
> For all you GrimmIchi, AiIchi, and GinRan fans out there that need a good canon-esque story that still follows the plot, you found it. I've always wanted to write for Bleach, so I hope you Ichigo and Rangiku fans out there enjoy this! Also im very pro espada, so none of them will get treated unfairly, but im very Anti Soul Society, minus loving majority of the captains!
> 
> Also if you're wondering where this story starts, it's right after Ichigo's first fight with Grimmjow. So the set up to kidnap Orihime hasn't happened just yet!

Main Pairings: Grimmichi, and eventual StarrkShiro

~By the way~

●Talking- "GrimmIchi"

●Thinking-  _"GrimmIchi"_

●Ichigo Mentally Talking- 'GrimmIchi'

●Flashback- _***GrimmIchi***_

●Zangetsu Talking: **"GrimmIchi"**

●Hichigo/Shiro Talking: "GrimmIchi"

Enjoy guys! :)

* * *

 

  **Chapter 1: Fondness**

This isn't how things were supposed to turn out.

All Grimmjow had intended was to come into Karakura town to raise a bit of havoc with his fraccion and fight a certain Shinigami, just to see what all the fuss is about. No. Instead, all his fraccion are now dead, and he loses his rank, along with his arm. Fantastic. But what makes matters worse is someway, somehow, he has spent the last couple of days sneaking from Hueco Mundo to spy on none other than his most recent prey, Ichigo Kurosaki.

He isn't quite sure why his inner hollow has become so fond of this human boy, but Grimmjow can't find the will to stop sneaking out every day to come watch the human. He know's Ichigo's school schedule, his friends, that he's top of his class, his two little sisters, his ridiculous dad, that weird teddy bear/lion thing that always complains about not having boobs in its face? Hell, even Grimmjow knows about Ichigo's dead mother, since the kid visits her grave every afternoon after school. And then there's that weird hippy guy and cat woman who owns that candy shop near Ichigo's house. After days of following the human boy, Grimmjow could come to only one conclusion about him.

He is completely fascinated by Ichigo.

No wonder Aizen is so hell-bent on wanting to know Ichigo's every move. He's such an interesting character, that you can't help but need to be near him and track his every move. His life isn't as boring as the blue-haired Espada previously thought it would be, for a human. The way Ichigo walks, talks, hell, the way he carries himself overall has Grimmjow addicted, like the boy is a drug he can't get enough of.

Now here the sexta espada is tonight, on a rooftop looking like a damn fool while he watches Ichigo sleep.

Or so he thinks.

* * *

 

Ichigo slows his breathing so it seems like he is sleeping, but he knows he is being watched. He purposely turns his back away from his window because he can't keep his eyes closed any longer. His heart tightens in his chest because he knows exactly who it is that's watching him through his window. And not just tonight, but the espada has been watching him for about almost two weeks now.

From when he wakes up, goes to school, visit's his mother's grave and Kisuke's shop here and there just to say hello, until he falls his sleep. And repeat. But why? From his previous encounter with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Ichigo is confused why he hasn't engaged a fight with him yet. The espada has just been...following him? Ichigo thought about telling his dad and Kisuke about it, especially the first night the hollow followed him home to watch him sleep. He was worried Grimmjow might attack his family, but the blue-haired arrancar hadn't moved from the spot above his window for hours. For now, Ichigo hasn't deemed him a threat, so that's why he hasn't told anyone about Grimmjow.

However, Ichigo can't take the silence and stalking anymore. It is only Friday night, so he's not concerned about being tired for school in the morning, even though school is the least of his problems right now.

It's about damn time he said something to Grimmjow anyway, and he's actually surprised with himself that he hasn't said anything sooner. His heart starts beating rapidly due to anticipation, knowing a fight might happen. Was he ready to fight the espada though? What if he gets himself killed this time? He scoffs at his inner mental fight with himself at the thought of Grimmjow kicking his ass...again.

So, taking off the covers from his body, he crawls over to his window and undoes the latch to open it all the way. With a sigh, he lifts his head up to stare right up into electric, glowing blue eyes, and gasps. He expects Grimmjow to flee the moment he is confronted, but knowing the little knowledge he does about the hollow, Grimmjow never backs down from a challenge.

Grimmjow gives the boy a wide smirk and inclines his head, edging the boy to follow him.

Ichigo blinks, but doesn't question him and quickly finds his soul badge. He catches his human body and places it back in bed, then closes the window quietly so he doesn't disturb his family, and follows Grimmjow to wherever the espada wants to take him.

They had been traveling for minutes now, Ichigo making sure he keeps a safe distance between him and the Sexta Espada. He doesn't trust Grimmjow one bit, so keeping his guard up and confronting Grimmjow far away from where his family lived was the best option in his head. But wait—What if the reason Grimmjow is leading him away is because of an ambush with other espada and arrancar? Ichigo doesn't feel anyone in the area except them, but...

As if reading his thoughts, Grimmjow looks back at the boy, "Hey, don't get too excited, it's just you and me soul reaper." Ichigo nods his head and continues to let Grimmjow lead them.

Minutes later they land in a park, suspiciously the park that Ichigo remembers fighting Yammy and Ulquiorra in. Looking around, his eyes finally land on Grimmjow who casually has his hand in his pocket, just staring at him.

"Uh, right. Well, im not sure why you've brought me here, but can you explain why you've been following me for the past two weeks now?" From the espada's expression, it seems like Grimmjow didn't think Ichigo knew he was being followed by him. Why do people always think he's stupid, Ichigo ponders for a moment.

"Anyway, I think it's time you tell me why." Grimmjow snorts, much to Ichigo's displeasure.

"You sure got some balls for confronting me kid. But I don't have to answer that question." Ichigo looks taken back by Grimmjow's answer and clenches his fists. Is the arrancar playing games with him?

"Yes you do, you have been following me Grimmjow—" A sharp sword places itself against his throat, cutting him off from speaking another word.

"Fight me, soul reaper." Ichigo feels his heart start to beat rapidly, but not because of fear. Deep down inside, he wants this to happen and easily pulls out his sword. Grimmjow backs away a few feet, Pantera shining in his hand under the moonlight. And now looking at him closely, Ichigo notes the fact that Grimmjow's other arm is missing. He wants to ask what happened, but he has a feeling the feisty arrancar won't answer him. But, curiosity was getting the better of him tonight it seems.

"Hey, this won't be a fair fight. What happened to your arm?" Grimmjow actually growls at him, like a wild cat, and Ichigo shivers under that intense glowing blue gaze on him.

"That's none of your fucking business!" He snaps, barring his fangs. "No more talking, fight me, soul reaper." Like a bullet, Grimmjow charges at Ichigo, throwing him off balance and onto the ground.

Ichigo quickly rolls to his left, dodging Pantera, trying not to let Grimmjow slice his head off. He quickly gets up on his feet and blocks a blow from Grimmjow with Zangetsu. While swords begin to clash, Ichigo's inner hollow his howling with excitement in his mind, and it's taking everything for it not to take over right now. He hasn't heard his hollow get this excited since they fought Kenpachi, and he wonders if his hollow has a thing for deranged, muscular, psychopath's with a sword. Then again, that's exactly what his hollow is...

"Shit!" He's thinking too much about his hollow, and almost get's his leg sliced cleaned off. Grimmjow swings low again, making Ichigo flip up into the air and block a swing from the other man mid-jump. Twirling himself around and back on the ground, he's tempted to summon his hollow mask but decides against it. His hollow is purring, which is something it's never done before, and it is slightly making him uncomfortable. Who knows what his hollow will do if he gave it even the slightest chance of coming out. Maybe he should ask Shinji and the vizards about this—

 _"Let me out King~"_ His hollow's voice sensually radiates through his mind, and it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

'Shut up, you're not helping right now! Besides, what the hell is your problem and why are you purring?!' He fires back, already so done with the current situation at hand in real life.

 _"Maybe it's 'cause I wanna be let out...I like what I see. He's powerful..."_ Ichigo mentally chokes.

'Wha...Are you getting turned on by this you perv—'

 **"Pay him no mind Ichigo, and focus on your fight."** Zangetsu calmy intervenes, bringing Ichigo back to reality.

Grimmjow, seeing Ichigo distracted, quickly snatches Zangestsu out of the boy's hands and throws it behind him into a tree, the force splitting it in half. Ichigo looks back and tries to grab for it, but a hand grabs the front of his black shinigami robes. Grimmjow's sword is implanted in the grass, and Ichigo tenses. The espada is close enough to fire a cero in his face, and he has no protection against one, minus his own hollow who he refuses to let out right now.

Mentally preparing himself for a cero, Grimmjow loosens the hold on him and begins to...sniff him? Wait, what the hell? The espada is way to close for comfort, and all distress signals are going off in Ichigo's head. Grimmjow is slowing pushing him back until his back hits a tree, and Ichigo is ready to push him away, not liking how close and personal the other man is. Ichigo swallows and would have shoved him away, if it weren't for the fact that Grimmjow's face is by his neck and his hand on his hip, gripping it tightly and locking him in place.

Ichigo isn't dumb, he knows Grimmjow isn't just a regular hollow. The quiet purring, large fangs, and cat-like eyes gave away that Grimmjow is some sort of cat hollow. He even walks and prowls like one. And Ichigo has watched enough animal shows to know a large cat can kill it's prey easily. With just one huge bite, a big cat can snap the neck of its prey and it's instantly dead, which Ichigo is hoping Grimmjow doesn't plan to do. Snapping his neck would be such a lame way to go, he thinks.

"Relax kid,..." Grimmjow leans in to whisper, close enough for Ichigo to feel his breath against his skin. And Grimmjow smirks, because he can feel Ichigo shiver from the closeness of their bodies barely pressed together. Damn, it's this easy for Ichigo to become submissive with only a little forcefulness like this? He purrs loudly and doesn't even realize he's basically nuzzling the crock of Ichigo's neck.

Ichigo is horrified, to say the least, closing his eyes and thinking back to all the animal survival guide shows he's seen on tv. He use to watch documentaries about animal packs as a kid with his mom, and he remembers something about wolves, dogs, cats and other creatures exposing their neck as a sign of submission. This is really foreign to him, seeing as he's not an animal. Grimmjow apparently really is some sort of big cat hollow though. So following what he has seen other animals do on tv, he let's Grimmjow nip his neck and do whatever it is Grimmjow wants. Why? Because any other moves and the espada probably won't hesitate to kill him.

"G-Grimmjow..." At the sound of his name, the espada's eyes snap open, unaware of what he's doing. He slowly lifts his head from Ichigo's neck and stares down into nervous chocolate brown eyes.

"What the hell are you doing to me, you fucking sick freak!" Grimmjows yells and throws Ichigo away from him harshly. The orange haired boy blinks then blinks again. Did—Did Grimmjow really just call him the sick freak when he was the one feeling him up just now?

Ichigo sits up and grabs Zangetsu from the tree, and points it at Grimmjow. "Are you kidding me? You're the one that just felt me up just now! And you've been stalking me for two weeks straight, yet im the sick freak?!" Grimmjow scowls at him and grabs Pantera from the ground, puts it back in it's sheath, and begins to walk away like nothing ever happened.

"Hey, im talking to you. You can't just ignore me Grimmjow!" He calls out, making Grimmjow stop in his tracks and look back at him, his fierce gaze staring Ichigo down.

"See ya, soul reaper." Grimmjow gives a wicked smirk and sonīdo's away, leaving a confused and angry Ichigo alone in the park.

"What the hell just happened..." Ichigo asks no one in particular.

"Ichigo!" A voice calls out.

Ichigo whips his head around to face the person he least expected to see tonight, flying towards him.

Rangiku Matsumoto.

"Rangiku...What are you doing here?" He says breathlessly, stands up and dust's himself off. Rangiku eyes him up and down but chooses not to comment on his appearance.

Flipping her hair off her shoulder, she sighs, "Well, Captian said he thought he felt the presence of a hollow, but a small presence, so he sent me out here to check it out! But what are you doing out here Ichi? It's late, and what happened to the tree behind you?" He gives her a shrug and decides against telling her about Grimmjow.

"Well, there aren't any hollows out here, im just...training." She narrows her eyes and a sly smirk makes its way on her face, noticing the red mark that looks fresh on his neck.

"Training huh? Seems to me like you're doing more than just that tonight...Playing hooky Ichi?~" Ichigo chokes at the accusation, red from head to toe now.

"Hell no!" He snaps, irritated by the fact that Rangiku, besides Yoruichi, is the only person that can embarrass him so easily about little things. Ranigku laughs because it's so damn easy to tease and get Ichigo all riled up. He is her favorite little shinigami after all, besides Toshiro.

"Im sorry, sorry haha! I know you're not the type to do that sort of thing!" She winks, and he grimaces. "Anyway, even though you don't have school in the morning, it's still pretty late. And there's the threat of the Espada. You should be sleep! Let me escort you back home...Although it is a really nice night, so let's take a stroll in the park really quick!" She walks over and wraps an arm around one of Ichigo's muscular ones.

"Yeah...Sure Rangiku." He lets her lead them through the park and smiles when she starts some casual conversation. He isn't as close to the beautiful orange-haired soul reaper like Orihime is, but Rangiku is alright in his book. Unlike all the other guys...Well, basically every guy that comes into contact with Rangiku, he just isn't attracted to her. Don't get him wrong, there's no denying that she's one of the most beautiful women he has ever laid his eyes on, if not the most gorgeous. But, she just isn't his type.

"Ichigo, you're staring." Once again, he finds himself blushing because of this...this...damn siren! He didn't even realize he was looking at her and knows there's no way to recover from this.

"Shut your mouth!" He quickly looks away, and she looks up at his flushed face and giggles.

Meanwhile, the orange-haired pair is unaware that they're being watched by silver eyes within the darkness.


	2. Boldness

**Chapter 2: Boldness**

Starrk yawns as he walks through the huge hallway, still cranky at the fact that Lilynette forced him to wake up because Aizen wants to have some spontaneous meeting with him, Harribel and Barragan.

Hands in his pockets, Starrk looks up at the two huge doors and with a sigh, he opens them and steps into the waiting room where the other two espada are sitting. Of course, Aizen is not even in the room yet.

Naturally being the last one in the throne room since he hates being wakened up from his naps, Starrk eyes the empty seat next to the only female espada and slowly walks over to her. He takes his seat beside Harribel at the head of the table and sighs again, putting his hands underneath his chin to keep his head up. Harribel raises an eyebrow at him and Barragan huffs at the wolf arrancar's arrogance.

Not only is Starrk late, but he has the audacity to sigh and have a lazy look on his face. Barragan would never have his subordinates show such laziness if he was still in charge. If even one yawned or showed a sign of boldness like Starrk is, they would be killed on the spot. Barragan never had time for uncooperative lackeys and he still didn't, his fraccion always upbeat and ready to defend him at a moment's notice.

"Good morning my dear espada, sorry to keep you waiting." And here comes the man of the hour himself, Aizen Sosuke.

Taking slow steps down the stairs, Gin naturally by his side, the two powerful shinigami make their way to the table. Aizen takes his seat at the very head of it, while Gin puts his arms around his back and stands closely behind Aizen's chair, the wide grin ever so present on his face. Starrk glances at Gin for a moment then gives his full attention to Aizen. Not that Gin creep's him out or anything, but the man always gave Starrk weird vibes. Gin is always smirking, and it makes Starrk uneasy every time he looks at the man.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, my espada. But there's something I would like to discuss with all of you. Gin, if you will." Glancing at Gin, the man happily walks over to the wall where the lever is, pulls on it and the projector popsout of the table. The screen flashes and a second later, an orange-haired soul reaper appears on it. Taking a minute to process what he is looking at, Starrk realizes it's the boy Ulquiorra and Yammy previously encountered.

But why is Aizen showing them this video again? The boy definitely has potential, that's for sure. But he got his ass handed to him by Yammy, so why keep showing the same footage again?

The video switches to a new one, the night Grimmjow and his fraccion snuck into the human world and got his arm cut off, lost his fraccion, along with his rank too supposedly. He, Harribel, Barragan and pretty much every epsada, besides obviously Grimmjow, has never seen this fight. But once again, another espada is kicking this soul reaper's ass. Grimmjow, being the aggressive arrancar he is, is throwing punches left and right and for a moment Starrk feels pity for the human/shinigami hybrid boy. However, Starrk wants to roll his eyes and feels aggravated that he woke up just to see thi—Oh wait...What is that?

Starrk tilts his head at the video, seeing the boy's eyes bleed into black and gold, instead of his regular brown and white. A hollow mask appear's on the boy's face, and out of nowhere, he unleashes a powerful attack that scars Grimmjow, which now Starrk understands where that mark on his chest suddenly came from. Starrk hear's Harribel quietly gasp, and glances at Baraggan, surprised that even the mighty ex-king of Hueco Mundo looks interested all of a sudden.

"Impossible, he's part hollow?!" Barragan asks/accuses.

"He...He made the impossible possible. How does a human boy like him possess such strength?" Harribel comments, just as surprised as Barragan. Starrk decides to stay quiet, letting the new footage play itself out.

The power he can clearly see radiating off the boy in the video makes Starrk inwardly shiver. Maybe the boy isn't a lost cause after all, and he finds himself intrigued by the kid, more so the powerhouse of a hollow inside of him. Though, just thinking about ever having to confront such a cocky, loud-mouth hollow by himself if Aizen wanted him to with him being the strongest espada...the mere thought is giving Starrk a headache.

The video ends with Kaname collecting Grimmjow, and them returning to Las Noches.

Aizen sips the tea a random servant presented to him while his top three espada watched the two videos. He smirks into the cup as he drinks it, amused that his top three who didn't give a damn about his project are suddenly jumpy in their seats, having a thousand questions for him now. Gin lifts up the lever to close the projector back into the table, then walks back to stand next to Aizen's chair again.

"So, my dear friends, what do we think of this human boy now? He is special, otherwise, I would not have gathered you three here to show you."

"He's got a lot of potential...I actually understand Ulquiorra's reasoning for not killing him now," Starrk responds, and Aizen is somewhat surprised that he is the first to speak out of the three.

"Oh really? I wouldn't think he would capture your interest out of all arrancar, Primera." The wolf espada humps, and looks down at the table.

Barragan clears his throat, signaling he is the next one that is going to talk. "He's becoming more and more dangerous, as Ulquiorra says. If that is the case, what action do you plan to take Aizen?" Aizen disregards Barragan not addressing him correctly, knowing that the ex-king of Las Noches will always be bitter towards him.

"I would like to know as well Lord Aizen, since it seems like you do not want us to kill the boy. If you did, you would have sent one of us, or Ulquiorra to already have done the job." Harrbiel is extremely curious as well, crossing her arms and waiting for her master's answer.

"And just what in the devil is he?!" Barragan demands, the senile man still shocked by everything the boy is.

Aizen takes another sip before answering, "Simple. It's his parents that is the reason why he is what he is. His father being an ex-shinigami and giving up his powers to turn into a human. He gave up his powers to be with Ichigo's mother in the human world, who was part hollow herself. A hollow I created centuries ago named White merged with her, and now that hollow has merged with Ichigo." Starrk tilt's his head more, fascinated by the story.

Aizen purposely leaves out the detail that Ichigo's mother is a Quincy, simply because not only did his espada not even know what a Quincy is, but it is an unimportant fact for now. He'd leave that for Szayel to find out sooner or later.

"So, that child is all of those things wrapped up in one package because of something trivial like love? Ridiculous." Barragan spits out nastily. His race, hollows, had no such thing as a need to love, and the fact that the child is made from it sent a bad taste in the ex-king's mouth, already uninterested in the boy again.

Harribel thought it as sweet and is thankful to have her fraccion as her three mates already, being one of the rare mated espada of the bunch. Actually, now that she thinks about it she is the only Espada with a mate, let alone three. However, love is still a foreign concept to her. Technically they didn't have hearts, but she knows she cares deeply for her fraccion more than an arrancar should.

Aizen pays the senile old arrancar no mind and continues, "And as for what to do with him...Leave the boy be for now. Events in the future are going to unfold where he will probably be coming to us, rather than us coming to him." Confusion made its way on all three espada's faces at this statement, and Aizen feels a grin coming on, but professionally hides it with a blank face he has mastered for centuries.

"Cuatro espada has a plan and is going to bring one of Ichigo's friends as a guest to Las Noches within the next few days, but there is a strong captain of the Gotei 13 in the human world, along with some very powerful lieutenants. Ulquiorra is preparing for that, which is why im informing the three of you of the events that are about to unfold. So do not be shocked when I have another meeting to inform you when he arrives here at the castle. Any other questions?"

When none of them responds, Aizen takes one more sip of is tea and stands, "That is all then, you are dismissed." Aizen bids them a farewell and leaves back upstairs, Gin right on his heels.

Starrk yawns and the three espada respectfully go about their own ways back to their individual palaces.

He opens the doors to his rooms, ready to sink back into his pillows and sleep. But a small green-haired arrancar with hot pink eyes is grinning, in the center of all his pillows sitting Indian-style.

"Lilynette move—" He plops down next to her, ignoring her grinning face above him.

"You know im part of your soul and saw everything that just happened...You think the shinigami boy is cute, don't you?" She goads him with a smirk.

"Shut up Lilynette." Starrk turns his face away, trying to hide his flustered cheeks.

"No way, you're blushing! Admit it, you think he's cuteeee~" She says in a sing-song voice, jumping on top of Starrk's back.

"Owww that hurt! Come on, im tired and want some peace and quiet." Lilynette grins and snuggles into Starrk.

"Fine, but don't think you're off the hook yet Starrk!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Now let me get some sleep..." Were his last words before dozing off.

Lilynette scoots off his back to lay beside him, and instinctively Starrk wraps his arms around her tiny frame in his sleep. The tiny arrancar is excited for whatever events are to come in the future and can't help but feel thrilled about Starrk and the soul reaper.

* * *

 

Stay focused. Stay focused. Stay focus-

Ichigo feels his pencil snap under the pressure he is putting on it and silently curses. The teacher gives him sharp look, and Ichigo gives her a sweet, innocent smile to not seem so suspicious. She coughs and goes to look at other students for any signs of cheating in the classroom. There is a big history test happening in class today, but Ichigo's mind keeps wandering elsewhere. More specifically, wondering why a certain arrancar is hovering over the school roof.

He knows Chad, Uuryu, and Orihime can feel it too, but they seem too focused on the test. Or. Maybe he is going crazy and there really wasn't a hollow—

Scratch that.

Ichigo's anxiety goes up when, out of the corner of his eye, he see's a glimpse of Grimmjow watching him from a tree. Isn't the arrancar afraid the other's would see him? Well, knowing Grimmjow of course not.

Quickly finishing up the last five questions on his test, all of which he knew easily since this test is child's play for him, he thanked God that this is his final class of the day and practically slammed his test on the teacher's desk. He ignores the looks Uryu and Chad give him and dashes upstairs to the nearest, secluded bathroom he knew of.

Once he enters, he shut's the door behind him and locks it, making sure no one would interrupt them. Right on queue, Grimmjow opens the window to the bathroom and smoothly lands in, his hand in his pocket with a bored look on his face.

Taking a deep breath, Ichigo turns around and crosses his arms. Ever since their...akaward encounter at the park a couple night's ago, Grimmjow completely disappeared off the radar. It was almost as if him following Ichigo had been a dream and the ginger-haired boy made up the whole thing. But here Grimmjow is, standing in front of him and acting casual like he didn't basically molest him at a public park after trying to rip his head off.

"So...If this is about the other nigh—"

"Drop it soul reaper, I don't even remember what fucking happened, so just forget about it. I came here to fight you." Ichigo raises an eyebrow, wanting to call bullshit on Grimmjow's bluff. But, he decides against it with a heavy sigh.

"Look, it's been a long day of tests and my brain feels like it's about to explode. I don't have time for this right now Grimmjow. AH—" Grimmjow takes Ichigo by the collar of his school shirt and throws him into a stall.

Trying to pry his hand off his neck, Ichigo wants to scream at Grimmjow's idiocy right now. "Now just wait a fucking moment Grimmjow! You can't fight me here right now, so let me go! We're in a school, full of humans, including me myself. We'll all die, and then you'll never get that fair fight with me. Just think about it logically, would it really be a fair fight if you fought me like this? You killed a weak human, hurray! Is that really how you want your victory to be? You're cheating if it is." Hoping he knocked some sense into his head, he is relieved when Grimmjow loosens his hold. Honestly, all he really could do is talk a good game while he is in his human form.

"I don't even have my soul badge right now, I accidentally left it at home because I was worried about school..." Glancing at Grimmjow, the blue-haired arrancar is staring at him and Ichigo gulps at the predatory look, the small stall suddenly feeling too hot to be in anymore.

"W-What is it?" Is there something on his face? Ichigo thinks and unconsciously raises a hand to feel his face for anything. Grimmjow follows his hand's every move and growls, snatching Ichigo's hand off his face.

"Just shut up and stop fucking talking..." Grimmjow growls out, feeling antsy and itching to tear Ichigo's head off. He can't do that right now, because he would feel like a sore loser and wouldn't hear the end of it from his fellow comrades about killing a weak human.

So, he takes a sniff of the boy and wants to roll his eyes back at the delicious scent that fills that air, the source coming from Ichigo. Grimmjow question's to himself why? Ichigo is in his human state, so why does he still smell so good. He growls again, but not out of anger. Yes, he is angry at himself that he's become so attracted to the boy, but he's not growling because he's upset. It's more of a purr at this point, and he can't stop himself from grabbing Ichigo's waist and nuzzling the crook of his neck to sniff him some more.

Ichigo, already sensing that what happened the other night might happen again, carefully reaches for the lock of the bathroom stall and locks it. But Grimmjow thinks Ichigo is trying to make a run for it and grabs the boy's wrists, releasing the grip on his waist, pinning them to the wall above his orange head. Ichigo gasps at the force, but it's not painful, just tight, so he doesn't complain.

Confusion crosses Ichigo's face, and he jerks his head back when Grimmjow's tongue flicker's out to taste his neck. "Grimmjow, what are you...Ohh." He wants to say words, but he knows they'll come out jumbled because the feel of Grimmjow's wicked tongue licking up and down his neck right now feels so good. Ironically, Ichigo except's Grimmjow's tongue to be like an actual cat's, hard and scratchy like sandpaper. But being an arrancar, an espada at that, his tongue feels soft and warm, sending shivers down Ichigo's body. This feels much more amazing than it did the other night, with him obviously being more sensitive in his human form.

Licking and nipping him hard enough to leave marks, Grimmjow looks down at his handy work and releases the boy's wrists. Slowly, he uses his only hand to grab the back of Ichigo's head and harshly tugs it back to stare down at his adam's apple, licking his lips. Ichigo knows that's a very sensitive place on his body and breath's out for Grimmjow to stop. He chokes back a loud moan at the feel of Grimmjow licking his adam's apple, slowly in an up and down motion. Grimmjow kisses the lump and circles his tongue around it, in a sensual circular motion that he knows will drive Ichigo crazy. Said soul reaper is panting and biting his lip to hold back his moans because unfortunately, Ichigo knows he'll be too loud and some passing students might hear him.

When he pleases himself at home, he always makes sure he has the house to himself, or that he knows for a fact that everyone is in a deep sleep. He grabs for his pillow to bury his face in so he's not loud, but even then he's always paranoid that someone will hear him because he knows he's can't hold back his groans and moans when it feels good pleasing himself. He often becomes nervous when he thinks about the moment he finally decides to have sex with someone because won't be able to control himself. It just feels too amazing to not scream with pleasure when releasing or touching himself.

Ichigo looks down and isn't surprised by the tightness in his pants. He's even more surprised at the bludge he feels in Grimmjow's hakama. So he turned Grimmjow on? That feat itself makes Ichigo ten times hornier. Unhurriedly, he grabs for the back of Grimmjow's head with one hand, the other on the espada's chest, and he forcefully grab's the blue arrancar's head from his neck.

Grimmjow looks at him and show's his fangs while purring, the sight making Ichigo feel hot. He looks back into those animalistic blue eyes and one thought comes to mind: Grimmjow is fucking beautiful.

The word sexy echo's through his mind thanks to Shiro's interference. His own hollow is purring, and Ichigo is embarrassed when he let's out a low purr himself. He isn't a damn animal and cover's his mouth with the hand that's not tangled in Grimmjow's blue locks. Shiro is laughing up a storm in his head, and mentally he curses out the white hollow, Zangetsu shaking his head. The sound makes Grimmjow stand still and it's taking everything not to flip Ichigo against the wall and—

Thanks to Shiro though, Ichigo remembers exactly where they are and has to stop whatever is happening from continuing.

"Grimmjow, we need to stop. Th-this isn't the place." Ichigo is proud he is even able to manage a whole sentence and detaches himself from Grimmjow. As much as his heart is telling him that he and the espada should continue, his mind is being logical for once. Realizing that he can't let Grimmjow have his way with him at school, full of other humans and shinigami that can easily sense him if he slips up.

Coming to he senses, Ichigo pushes Grimmjow back and grab's the dazed espada's hand, leading him to the window he left open—

Reality really hit's Ichigo, Grimmjow left the window open. Anybody could have walked in on them!

Looking back at the arrancar in panic, he points to the window, "Grimmjow, you have to go. It's too dangerous for you to be here right now." Blinking, Grimmjow looks down at the hand Ichigo is holding and slowly, bringing his eyes back up to the boy's brown eager ones, he let's out a sly smirk.

"You want me to fuck you, don't you." Ichigo chokes on his spit and steps back, putting space between him and the espada.

"N-No!" Grimmjow and Ichigo both know he's lying, but Ichigo doesn't have the time for this. He can sense Uryu and Chad coming towards the bathroom and pushes Grimmjow hurridly out the window. "My friends are on their way up here and you need to go! We can finish this later." A spark lights up in Grimmjow's eyes at that.

"Oh, you really are a horny bastard for wanting to continue this later, huh? I didn't even say I wanted to...This just confirmed that you want me soul reaper." Ichigo's whole face turns red, not realizing what he's saying. His dick is talking more than his mind, and silently he curses.

"Will you just get the hell out of here?! I swear—Next time I see you im going to kill you Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez ..." Ichigo knows he doesn't mean to carry out that threat, but he is a blushing mess and hates that Grimmjow is the reason why.

"Fine, i'll leave...but be prepared for me to fuck you up later soul reaper." Just like last time, Grimmjow winks at him and exits out the window. Ichigo watches him go and sighs, closing the window.

What did he just sign up for? He grabs his heart through his shirt and blinks, surprised his heart is racing rapidly.

"Ichigo...Ichigo? Why is the door locked, are you okay in there?!" He hears Uryu knock on the door, calling his name and he panics again. He still has a hard-on and there are hickeys all over his neck!

"Y-Yeah im good, give me a sec...And I think the door is jammed. I'll meet you guys downstairs by the front of the school, im just washing my...face." He wants to slap himself for sounding so stupid. Fortunately, he's glad to hear Uryu's usual sigh, and he exhales when he feels him and Chad walk away back downstairs.

Reaching the sink, he turns the water to cold and splashes his face with the water, then grabs for a couple of paper towels to wipe his neck and tame some of the redness and purple bruising. He grimaces at all the markings on it, but luckily his school jacket has a high collar and he zips it up fully. Stupid Grimmjow, Ichigo thinks. He still has friends and family he has to hide this stuff from. No one can know about...whatever the hell is going on with him and Grimmjow.

He looks down at the bludge in his pants and grips the edge of the sink with his hands, not in the mood to masturbate. Image's of seeing his dad naked two years ago flooded his mind and he wants to throw up at the thought. Thankfully, his pants feel less tight and he's suddenly not hard anymore...at all. Damn, what an embarrassing memory. Why did his dad never have a towel on when he got out of the shower, Ichigo thinks with a shudder.

Minutes later Ichigo meet's with Chad, Uryu, and Orihime outside.

Of course, Uryu is the first one to question his appearance.

"Ichigo, why is your jacket zipped all the way up?" Curse Uryu for being so over analytical.

"Because im cold..." What a lame excuse.

"But it's summer and it's 90 degrees outside right now..." Ishida presses. Orihime and Chad exchange looks to each other, but they trust Ichigo enough to not question him.

Orihime steps up and smiles a sweet smile at Ichigo. "It was kinda chilly in the school building, so I don't blame you Ichigo!" He smiles back at her, glad he could always count on Orihime to come to his defense.

"But-" Orihime grabs for Uryu's hand, cutting him off.

"Come on, I made dinner for all of us tonight since I knew tests would stress us out today. Tatsuki is also coming over after her afterschool training, so let's not waste time...I can't wait for you all to try it!" The three boy's inwardly cringed, but they can never say no to Orihime, especially Uryu. Speaking of, he adjusts his glasses and blushes when Orihime squeeze's his hand and begins leads them to her house.

Chad and Ichigo walk behind them and look at each other with smirks, wanting to laugh at how nervous Uryu always is when it come's to Orihime.

He totally has a crush on her.

* * *

 

"My radar isn't working properly for some reason. I know I sensed an arrancar just now dammit!" Toshiro sighs with frustration on the school roof, tapping the device that is going haywire at his hands, beeping rapidly.

Rangiku silently flips her hairs and watches Ichigo and his friends walk towards the direction of Orihime's house.

She isn't going to tell her captain that she just witness the blue-haired espada jump out the window while arguing with Ichigo in the bathroom minutes ago. She saw the arrancar wink at Ichigo and blushed at all the marks she saw on Ichigo's neck before he closed the window. Toshiro was too busy all the way on the other side of the roof trying to find the espada to even notice the two.

But Rangiku did, and whatever is going on between Ichigo and the espada is none of her business. She isn't going to tell on the boy seeing as he had the situation handled, but curiosity killed the cat, and she is one curious kitty right now. What type of saucy secret relationship is going on between a shinigami and an arrancar?


	3. Realizations

**Chapter 3: Realizations  
**

"Come on soul reaper, I know you can do better than that!" Grimmjow shouts as he twists in the air and swings his sword, nearly cutting Ichigo's neck clean off.

Ichigo skids across the grassy field, panting heavily as sweat drips down from his face. He and Grimmjow have been fighting for, well, Ichigo lost track after an hour. The adrenaline is rushing through his veins, the thrill of the fight pumping in his blood and making him feel alive. And it feels good because Grimmjow is the only that can get Ichigo riled up like this. Renji is always holding back, and Chad and Uryu still haven't reached their full potential yet to give the human boy a serious fight. But Grimmjow, he's different. He's an actual enemy and opponent he might have to face in the future, and Ichigo grins, knowing the arrancar is someone who would never hold back on him.

Grimmjow gives the boy a toothy grin of his own and charges at him again.

Ichigo blocks it, but feels a strain on his right arm and pushes Grimmjow back as much as he can. He unleashes's a powerful getsuga tenshou, sending Grimmjow back a few yards and exhales heavily. He knows he's at his limit now, and if he uses his hollow powers anymore Shiro could easily take over. After hearing all the lewd comments of the things Shiro would do to Grimmjow if he took control, Ichigo was more than unwilling to let that happen. His hollow obviously had a thing for the arrancar, and it is driving the soul reaper insane with all the raunchy commentary he didn't really want to hear all the time.

 _"Come on Kingggg. Let's just fuck 'em instead! It'll be more fun, for you and me both."_  Shiro smoothly suggests, purring at thought of having Grimmjow to himself.

"No!" Ichigo counters at his hollow.

 **"Shiro...Let the boy focus on his battle."** Zangestu calmly intervenes.

This makes Shiro glare at the other spirit, _"Oh fuck off 'Getsu! This is exactly what Ichigo needs. He's too uptight, but a nice, long and hard fuck from a hot arrancar might change that. And we both know it's what Ichigo wants...He obviously has a thing for the kitten hollow and you know it!"_ Shiro chuckles, loving that he can feel embarrassment mixed with anger rolling off of Ichigo.

 **"Hmmm...I would like for it to not rain and be so gloomy. I hate when it rains."** Zangetsu mumbles lowly.

 _"See! And if he gets laid you won't have to deal with that anymore, ain't that right Ichi~"_  Ichigo wants to choke his unusually sexual hollow so bad at this point.

 **"You may actually have a point for the first time ever Shiro...Ichigo, maybe you sho-"**  Ichigo growls in frustration, cutting off anymore conversation from both spirits.

"Will you both shut up! Im not fuc—having sex with Grimmjow and that's, that."

"What? Who the hell are you talking to?" Ichigo looks over at the amused hollow and shock is the first emotion he feels after realizing he was talking out loud just now. He brings a hand to cover his mouth, but can't stop the blush that cover's his face, beat red all over.

"Mind your own damn business Jaegerjaquez!" Ichigo weakly yells back, too mortified to properly argue back.

"It definitely seems like it is my business, seeing that you mentioned my name and all, soul reaper."

"Ahhh, shut up!" Doing the only logical thing he can think of, he flash steps forward and clashes Zangestu against Pantera, surprising Grimmjow who flips in the air and tries to kick Ichigo in defense. Ichigo grabs his leg, another shock to the arrancar, and sends him flying across the field. Ichigo takes a couple steps back, not noticing he's edging against a cliff edge.

"You little shit, you caught me off guard that time..." Grimmjow stands up and dusts himself off, angry at the fact that Ichigo managed to surprise him twice in one go tonight. He looks up and grins at Ichigo's panting form, the boy is running out of energy.

"But can you handle this!" He charges and Ichigo quickly moves out the way. However, Grimmjow's eyes widen at not only because of the quickness of Ichigo movements, but that there's no land for him anymore, just air.

"Shit." He curses, taking a moment to register that he's falling.

Ichigo spins around and grabs for Grimmjow before he can completely fall off the cliff. He grabs for Grimmjow's only hand with a strong grip and could have pulled him up, but his right arm is already strained and all energy he felt before is suddenly drained out of him. A pitiful yelp escapes the boy, and he's falling off the cliff with Grimmjow, both tumbling down it tangled together.

Moments pass and they're still falling down the hill. Until they stop rolling on top of each and end up in another tall grass field that happened to be below them. Grimmjow sits up on top of Ichigo, feeling like a complete idiot for not noticing Ichigo had been on the edge of a cliff in the first place. Ichigo, on the other hand, is thankful for the somewhat soft landing and blinks slowly, looking up to see three Grimmjow's looking down at him and merging into one. He grabs his head, because on the way down he hit his head against something and checks for any signs of bleeding. Thankfully there is none.

The once dark night suddenly lights up, more than probably a thousand fireflies now lighting up the tall grassy filed they had literally rolled into. Grimmjow is taken back by the glowing bugs that surround them and it makes Ichigo chuckle up at him, the arrancar sending a dangerous glare his way. Ichigo's looks up around them and sighs, completely exhausted from tonight's spare.

"Their called fireflies and they're harmless, see?" Ichigo lazily sticks his hands out and a couple of fireflies land on it, before flying away back into the night. Grimmjow does the same thing, fascinated that a bug this size could light up an entire field like a cero in the dark night's of Hueco Mundo can. Ichigo raises an orange eyebrow at the hollow, a thought coming to mind.

"You don't have anything like this back where you live?" He's curious because the shock value on Grimmjow's face just by looking at fireflies sends a thousand questions running through the shinigami's mind.

"We don't exactly have anything harmless back where I live. It's either eat or be eaten, simple as that. The strongest survive, and the weakest get eaten or murdered just for the simple fact that they're weak. We don't really have anything flashy and harmless like these guys in Hueco Mundo." Another bug lands on Grimmjow's nose and he has the urge to kill it. It tickles his nose for a moment before flying away with another one.

"So, living in Hueco Mundo is basically like the circle of life here on earth, except more brutal because hollow's by nature are vicious...Unlike animals here where most are innocent creatures. I can't imagine what it would be like to live there, knowing each day you'd have to be strong. One wrong move, one slip up, and you could be eaten..." Ichigo begins to ponder, a frown slipping on his face. Grimmjow looks down at him and shrugs because all he's known in life is to be the strongest and has lived by that motto for centuries now. If he wasn't who he was today, he would be dead by now.

"It shouldn't be a surprise to you at how the way things work in Hueco Mundo, you're a soul reaper for fucking sake." Ichigo looks up at him, frown deepening.

"I'm not a soul reaper by fucking choice and didn't ask to be one. I was born one, and suddenly one day I tuned into my powers and have been learning how to properly be a shinigami ever since then. Im not even an official member of Soul Society, so how the hell am I suppose to know anything about hollows beside the fact that they're dangerous. I know nothing about your world." Ichigo unintentionally snaps at Grimmjow.

This information intrigues Grimmjow, "You're not apart of soul society? Could've fooled me with how loyal you are to them." It's Ichigo's turn to give a shrug.

"I don't really care for them as a whole. After I broke in to save Rukia, they made me an unofficial member, but honestly, they treat me like shit. They ask me to kill this hollow, save this person, but what do I ever get in return? Not shit, that's what. I don't know why I bust my ass for them so much anyway..." Ichigo rambles, not caring that this is Grimmjow he's saying all this to. Really, he shouldn't be telling the enemy all this information, but he doesn't care. Soul Society doesn't care for him, so he doesn't mind sharing this.

"So, they have you bound to them for no reason? That doesn't seem right." Grimmjow isn't sure why he's engaging in conversation with the shinigami below him, but this topic has definitely peeked his interest. Anything about Ichigo immediately catches his attention actually.

Ichigo lazily waves his hand, a lightning bug tickling his cheek. "It doesn't matter, I barely listen to them anyway. If I did, you wouldn't be on top of me right now." Ichigo chokes, not meaning to sound as suggestive as he did and he covers his face with his hand. He watches Grimmjow grin at him, a mysterious twinkle shining in those blue feline eyes.

"N-No, I didn't mean it like that. I mean I would have reported you to Soul Society for being an enemy and—"

"Then why haven't you boy?" The grin spreading wider on Grimmjow's face has Ichigo completely flustered. He takes a pause, a deep breath, and comes to a conclusion. He silently admits to himself that Grimmjow straddling and grinning down at him is one of the sexiest things he's ever seen. Fuck, why did he feel like a teenage school girl with a huge crush on a jock or something? This is not like him, no one has ever made him feel like this before.

Ichigo feels a strong yawn coming on, using a hand to cover his mouth. The feeling of sleepiness is taking over and he closes his eyes, not caring that a dangerous hollow that wants to kill him is on top of him. He's drained and has no more spark left to fight or say anything, sleep taking over him.

Grimmjow's grin disappears, continuing to look down at the boy. The sound of soft snoring making his ears twitch. Ichigo looks beautiful when he's at peace, which most of the time is when he's sleeping Grimmjow has noticed.

"Tch, sleeping while you're underneath the enemy? You're a fool Ichigo." He takes Ichigo's body and slings it over his shoulder, being gentle not to wake the boy up.

He jumps up into the sky and sonido's back to where Ichigo lives. He knows he has to be careful not to alert any soul reapers.

Once he arrives at Ichigo's bedroom window, he place's Ichigo in the tree beside's the window and knocks on it. As fast as he can, he ducks into a nearby building roof to see the tiny female soul reaper he stabbed in the chest open the window. She gasps and quickly takes Ichigo body and places him on his bed. Looking around, she sighs and closes the window.

Grimmjow slides back against the brick wall and stares up at the moon.

What is this kid doing to him?

* * *

"Huh? Where am I...Grimm?" Ichigo whisper's, sitting up and bringing a hand to his aching head. He looks out the window to see the sun starting to come up and birds chirping.

"Who is Grimm, and where the hell were you last night Ichigo?" Ichigo's eyes narrow and he turns his head to look at Rukia, hands on her hips glaring at him. Had he said Grimmjow's name out loud by accident? The last thing he remembers is falling asleep and—Did Grimmjow bring him back home? The thought itself made Ichigo go wide-eyed. Knowing the arrancar, Ichigo had expected to wake up in the field. He didn't think Grimmjow would risk himself getting caught by Soul Society to make sure got back home safe.

"Well, are you gonna answer my question?" Ichigo ignores her and gets up, then looks at the clock to see he has a couple of minutes left before it rings for him to get up for school. Might as well wake up now and get a head start for the day.

"Worry about yourself Rukia. Now be quiet, I have a headache and it's bad." He rubs the crust out of his eye and shuffles towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.

"But Ichigo.." She follows behind him and the bathroom door shuts in her face. Rukia looks at the door with worry in her eyes, noticing the bags under his eyes. Just what is going on with the boy these days?

"I wouldn't worry about him too much Rukia." Rukia turns her head to see Karin with her pajama's still on down the hall.

"Karin..." The young black-haired human girl gives her a small smile.

"Ichi's not really a morning person, so don't take his attitude personally. From what dad told me, mom wasn't a morning person either, so he get's it from her." Rukia gives the human girl a smile of her own and nods her head.

"Oh, Ichigo really doesn't talk about his mother much, so I wouldn't know that." Karin scratches the back of her head and yawns.

"Well, me and Yuzu never really knew our mother, but Ichigo was closer to her than we were, so im not surprised he gained her habits. Anyway, Yuzu is making breakfast and I think's she's about done." Rukia blinks at the given info and follows Karin downstairs. They enter the kitchen and she gives a wave to Yuzu who's cooking up a nice smelling breakfast and Isshin in the living room reading the morning newspaper.

"Good morning darling Rukia!" He gives her a smile and takes a sip of his coffee, returning back to the article at hand.

"Same to you Isshin." She responds, taking a chair out to sit on it across from Karin.

"Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes!" Yuzu hands them a cup of cold orange juice and goes back to cooking. Ichigo has such a wonderful family, and Rukia wishes she had that with Byakuya. He is her blood-in law thanks to her older sister, but if there was ever someone she could sit down and have breakfast with and consider family, it would be Renji hands down.

Ichigo is a lucky human being she thinks with a longing look in her eyes.

* * *

"Alright, so two divided by...Yeah, that makes sense!" Ichigo scribbles's down the answer and smiles, answering the last of five questions on his homework in his bedroom.

The day has gone by really great. Orihime's dinner had actually been digestible, vizard training hadn't drained him like it usually did, the weather was nice while he visited his mother at her grave, homework was a breeze and lastly, no Grimmjow has come to interrupt him. Yeah, nothing could ruin his evening-

"Hey Soul Reaper."

And there goes Ichigo's smile.

The ginger-haired boy let's out a sigh, turns around and see's a smirking Grimmjow in the window, the orange sky giving him a radiant glow in the background. Grimmjow smoothly slides through the window and closes it behind him to make sure no one else popped in for a surprise visit. He slowly walks towards Ichigo, leans down and puts a hand on the wooden table. The arrancar leans over Ichigo's shoulder to see what he's doing and studies all the numbers on the page Ichigo has written on.

Ichigo scoffs and tries to ignore the fact that Grimmjow's head is practically snuggled up on his shoulder. "If you don't mind, can I at least finish my homework before we fight if you're not in a rush? I am still a human and have human responsibilities, like school. I don't mind if you stay in here though. It would be rude to kick you out...but even if I did I have a feeling you wouldn't leave and I don't feel like arguing."

"Whatever..." Grimmjow bites back, but slyly let's is nose hover over the junction of Ichigo's shoulder and neck, and gives it a slow lick. Ichigo holds back a shudder, biting his lip and crossing his legs while Grimmjow walks backs towards the window to sit on his bed. Grimmjow's leans back and lays down, and he decides to watch Ichigo. He has nothing better to do anyway.

And Ichigo knows those blue eyes are trained on his backside, which makes him start wiggling his pencil in his hand. It is a nervous habit he does when he's uncomfortable, instead of tapping whatever pen was nearby on a table and annoying everyone with the noise. He wants to answer these last questions on his homework, but a question lingers in his mind.

He turns towards the relaxed blue arrancar and asks, "Hey, did you...happen to bring me home the other night by chance?" Grimmjow stares at him for a moment, then stares up at the ceiling.

"You went limp under me and it was a pathetic sight really," Ichigo frowns and has the urge to throw his pencil at the hollow. "But I didn't want some random soul reaper to find you, so I brought you back. What of it?" Ichigo gives him and smile and turns back to his desk.

"Nothing really. Just thank you is all Grimmjow." Grimmjow doesn't respond and continues to act like something more interesting is happening on the ceiling.

"Ichigo, I made cookies!" The door opens and Ichigo feels like he's going to have a serious panic attack, but realizes that it's only Yuzu who enters the room and thankfully she can't see Grimmjow like Karin can if she had come to his room too. She sets a plate of hot chocolate chip cookies down on his desk and stands on her tippy toes to give Ichigo a kiss on the cheek.

"Here Ichi, I made these for you since you've been working so hard! I made sure daddy and Karin got some too, but I made the most for you!" Ichigo leans down to give her a kiss on the forehead and smiles at her.

"Did you remember to save some for yourself?" She nods her head happily.

"Yep! Also, will you still help me with my homework tonight like you promised?" Ichigo wants to slap himself in the face. He is so caught up with Grimmjow that he completely forgot he promised to help Yuzu out with her science homework.

"Ahhh, Yuzu I would but-" She points a finger to his chest.

"No but's mister, you promised and Ichi never breaks a promise!" Sighing in defeat, Ichigo's put his hands up and grins down at her.

"Alright, alright. Im almost finished with mine, then i'll come and help you okay?" Yuzu squeals and hugs him by the neck.

"Thank you, Ichi!" She beams and exits out of the room.

"She reminds me of Nelliel..." Ichigo raises an eyebrow at the blue-haired arrancar sitting up on his bed.

"Who?" Grimmjow stays silent and decides to not answer Ichigo's question. Ichigo shrugs and returns to his homework.

Grimmjow grunts then shifts and stands up to open the window he previously closed. Ichigo pauses, puts his pencil down and stares at Grimmjow's retreating form begin to leave his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Ichigo softly ask.

"Im leaving, obviously. 'Sides, I can feel that soul reaper girl from down the street. Wouldn't do any good if she saw me here."

"Right..." Once again, he's so focused on Grimmjow that he didn't even notice Rukia's presence down the street. She must be coming from Kisuke's after seeing Renji and sparring with Chad.

"Well, goodnight Grimmjow," Ichigo says quietly.

It's almost like he can't breathe anymore when he looks up locks eyes with Grimmjow. He tilts his head, and slowly a hand comes up to grab the fabric around his shirt near his heart. It's beating fast, so fast that Ichigo is worried it might burst out his chest right then and there. He can hear Shiro's purring and it doesn't make him uncomfortable for once. It's like a warm tune washing over him making him feel content. Zangeatsu is also lightly humming which is a surprise to Ichigo. His inner world has never felt so at peace before.

It's definitely a nice feeling that he hopes last for a while, despite the upcoming war and Aizen.

Grimmjow, on the other hand, feels really,  _really_  awkward, because it's almost like those brown eyes are hypnotizing him and he takes a huge gulp. Shaking his head lightly, he's about to jump out the window, but something makes him look back at the human boy in the room one more time. Ichigo is still staring at him. So, Grimmjow takes one last look at the boy before doing the one thing he alway's did when a situation made him feel uncomfortable if he didn't feel like killing the source.

He ran.

* * *

Grimmjow exits out the garganta and lets out a scream that sounds more like a roar, scaring smaller hollow back into their homes or underground for cover.

_Why? Why? Why?_

Grimmjow kicks the sand beneath his feet and places his hand in his pocket, glaring at nothing in particular. He is angry, frustrated, and most of all extremely confused. The plan was to _kill_  Ichigo, not develop whatever the fuck he is for the human boy. The first time he snuck into the human world without Aizen's permission and fought Ichigo, he felt like he was on top of the world. Nobody else mattered right then and there but the human boy and the potential power Ichigo has. And just when things were getting good after Ichigo had unleashed that weird power, Kaname had to come and fuck everything up.

After that, it was supposed the be a whole month before he had permission to encounter Ichigo again. But did Grimmjow ever listen to what Aizen had to say? Most of the time he did, but when it comes to Ichigo? Fuck no. The boy has become more interesting than he would have liked. And the more the blue-haired arrancar hangs around him, the more things he has noticed things about the human.

For instance, Ichigo is gorgeous.

Fuck, the boy is  _beautiful_  and Grimmjow can't get enough of him, like a glass of water he want's to keep refilling and drinking over and over again. That orange hair makes him different from the rest of the basic normal colored humans Grimmjow has seen. Ichigo sticks out like a sore thumb, just begging for you to always find him, like a needle in a haystack. And those eyes. Those, damn brown eyes. It was a common eye color, nothing to get hyped up about really. Except, the shinigami boy's eyes were different. Yes, they were a normal looking brown color but they shined bright and held so much passion and emotions in them. And that's what made Grimmjow so nervous every time he looked at them. Ichigo's eyes seem like they always held a promise, and it make's the arrancar anxious. It's as if every time he stares into them, Ichigo is promising him something. But what?

Then there is that scent. It's almost like Ichigo himself is a hollow, but that isn't possible...

The scent smells incredible, and if Ichigo were to enter Las Noches, Grimmjow is certain the other espada would feel this addicted too. It smells like a mixture of different flowers and sweet things, like various candies from the human world. At least, that's what Grimmjow thinks Ichigo smells like since he's heard that humans are obsessed with candy. So the description of the human's scent and that seems perfect.

"Hey Sexta, been wondering where ya been." Grimmjow lets out a quiet sigh and unhurriedly turns his head the face Nnoitra, the fifth espada.

He growls at the grin on the other's face, not exactly mad at Nnoitra's presence itself. Nnoitra is a sexist piece of shit, but once you get passed the way he views woman and his need to always be at the top, he's not such an intolerable guy to be around.

"Fuck do you want?" Nnoitra says nothing and walks towards him until he's literally only a foot away from him. The taller espada takes a sniff and grins even further.

"Ha ha, damn you smell good! So, who's the bitch you've been sneaking off to fuck in the human world?" Grimmjow rolls his eyes and shoves Nnoitra as he walks past him, beginning to make his way back to the castle. Unfortunately, the other espada decides to casually walk next to him with his hands behind his head, and only then does Grimmjow notice he doesn't have his huge scythe with him.

"You really came all the way out here to find me and ask me that?" When Nnoitra doesn't respond, Grimmjow gives him a shrug. "I actually don't think it's any of your fucking business." The other gives a high pitch laugh that makes Grimmjow want to tear out his throat. He is already irritated with himself being irrational when it comes to Ichigo, and Nnoitra is just fueling the fire with his voice alone.

"That's fine, wanna keep your new bitch a secret? Whatever. But I can smell them all over you and you've been sneaking off an awful lot lately. Putting two and two together, it makes sense now." Grimmjow raises an eyebrow at him.

"So you've been watching me?" Nnoitra gives him a sly smirk.

"Well, I don't really have a sparring partner since I almost killed Tesla the other day and he's still healing. And you know Ulquiorra and Starrk are never in the mood to battle. Fuck Barragan's arrogant ass, but Harribel and me sometimes spare...When I don't call her out about being a bitch like the fucking bitch she is." Yeah, that whole last sentence completely killed Grimmjow's mood.

It's not that Grimmjow liked Harribel, but he knows when to respect a powerful alpha when he sees one. There had been times where he had ran into Harribel while he was an adjuchas and she was already Vasto Lorde class. They would exchange words and move on with their night. By the time Grimmjow had turned into a Vasto Lorde himself, he had only run into her twice before going to join Aizen's army, and even then at the new level and power he had gained, he knew twice than to try and fight her. She was still stronger than him and he didn't feel like being attacked by her three powerful mates. Mila Rose, Sung-Sun, and Apacchi may not be as powerful as Harribel, but even Grimmjow knew not to mess with them either. You fucked with them, Harribel will most definitely eradicate you from existence in return.

Thinking about the female esapda always made Grimmjow consider if having a mate really made one stronger, but back to the matter at hand.

"I would watch your tongue if I were you Nnoitra, Harribel is going to kill you someday." The lanky man eyes him with interest.

"Oh, defending her I see. What? You think if you give her some respect she'll respect a weaker being like  _you_  back?"

"Fuck off Nnoitra." Grimmjow growls, which sounds more like a defensive purr to the black-haired hollow.

"Find me in my palace if you wanna spare kitty, i'm itching to fight someone." The taller espada sondio's away and Grimmjow looks up at the castle they arrived at quicker than he thought with a bored look on his face.

His mind that was blank a second ago suddenly leads him back to Harribel and her fraccion, then Ichigo, and he blinks twice at the picture of Ichigo smiling at him. And then a random thought of having Ichigo as his mate runs across his mind. Just what the hell is going on with him? His fists are shaking and he wants to rip something apart.

Yeah, a spare with Nnoitra sounds great. The lanky, annoying, sexist espada is the perfect target to take out his anger on for this occasion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys like this so far? Lemme know in the comments. Thanks!
> 
> Toki Out O3O


	4. Knowing

Ichigo watches Hiyori jump in the air, hollow mask on, and Kensei jump after her. He is currently resting on a rock at the basement of the vizard hideout, taking a break for the day. But his mind of recently could care less about training his inner hollow, and more on the blue-haired espada he was slowly becoming smitten with.

A secret he could tell no one else.

"They're really going at it, aren't they?" A voice next to him says.

"Uh...Yeah, I guess." Ichigo snaps out of his daze and looks up to see the blonde-haired vizard known as Rose staring down at him with a smile.

Ichigo and Rose don't interact much, save for when he has to fight him. So it is a bit of a shock to have the blonde vizard come over and start a conversation with him. Rose is a kind man, as kind as Hachi probably, who he suspects is in a relationship with the vizard across the room, Love. Speaking of, the star-haired vizard is looking their way and gives Ichigo a nod. Ichigo gives a small wave back.

"So, I couldn't help but notice you seem to be troubled the past couple of days. I don't think the other vizard's beside Shinji and I have noticed, but it's affecting your fighting style. You're slower, and you seem to be caught in a daze most of the time. Tell me, is school stressing you that much lately Ichigo? I know exams are coming up, and tests would stress anyone out." Ichigo huffs and stares back at the fight ahead of them, thought's immediately flooding with Grimmjow's stupid smirking face.

"Schools' part of the problem I guess." This makes Rose's eyebrows go upward, and a gentle smirk crosses his face.

"Oh, I know that look from anywhere. It's how I looked when I was younger and was falling for someone. Could it be someone special is on your mind Ichigo?" Ichigo brings a hand to his face to cover the upcoming redness, but Rose's chuckle above him lets him know he has failed miserably. Rose claps his hands together and lets out a small squeal, startling Ichigo.

"Oh, yes, yes, come with me! The walls are much too thin to talk about stuff like this down here!" Rose grabs for Ichigo hands and with strength Ichigo didn't know he possessed, drags him up the stairs.

"Hey, let go of me! Aren't you listening, hey!" Ichigo looks back at Love and mouths 'help'. Love looks up at the two and smiles, shrugs his shoulders and looks back at Hiyori and Kensei's fight.

In the blink of an eye, Rose takes him to a room on a top floor, his own room, and throws Ichigo in it. Roses locks the door and walks past Ichigo, then ushers the human boy to come stand with him on his balcony.  
  
Ichigo dust himself off, and grumble's something which Rose suspiciously thinks is 'abusive psychopaths' and Ichigo comes to stand beside him.

"So, who's on your mind? Could it be a girl from high school, or perhaps a guy? I don't judge! Tell me your trouble's Ichigo." Ichigo looks at the smile plastered on Rose's face and want's to tear it right off. He sighs and looks up at the orange and purple afternoon sky, already wishing to be home in his bed and forget all this is happening.

But maybe getting this off his chest might help him.

"Okay, so, hypothetically, I have this friend." The smirk on Rose's pretty face isn't helping, but Ichigo doesn't want to directly tell the vizard he is secretly seeing the enemy.

"Oh yes, do go on," The blonde man urge's, resting his arms on the balcony railing.

"Anyways as I was saying, I have this friend who's seeing somebody, but in secret. It's sort of a forbidden love type of situation, you know?" Rose nods for him to continue. "Well, he likes this person, but they're from...another family that is sort of business rivals with his own. If they're found it, it could ruin each other's family companies. And it would suck if their families found out they were dating each other, so what should my friend do?" Rose hum's in consideration for a moment and stares up at the sky.

"You know the story of Romeo and Juliet, don't you?" Ichigo slowly nods his head. "Well, they both ended up dying in the end, yet they still found a way to fall in love and see each other, even though their families had forbidden it. What I'm trying to say is, your friend should be able to be with whoever he wants to, no matter what the consequences. The enemy, a rival, a friend, you can't stop what fate has in store for you. Just make sure you don't make the same mistake and end up with the same fate Romeo and Juliet had. Don't die for love and be impatient. If Juliet had only waited a couple more seconds, they could have both stayed alive and ran off to start a family somewhere. What a shame, such a tragedy for two young lovers..." Ichigo stays silent, deciding to join Rose to watch the beautiful afternoon sky, star's twinkling above. It would be time for him to go to bed soon.

"I see, thank you, Rose..."

"No problem, just be careful with that hollow boyfriend of your's...." Ichigo's eyes widen and he takes two steps back from the vizard, ready to draw out Zangetsu. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else. But you need to be careful, arrancar are not good company to keep. Hollow's are vicious by nature and you could be killed if you're not cautious. They are incapable of loving, so I only hope you know what you're doing Ichigo." Ichigo stare's at the other man, hand still gripped on his sword just incase.

"Ho...How do you know?" Rose gives a harmless shrug and turns his body to face Ichigo's.

"Well, it's something you haven't tuned into yet, but as a full vizard, my sense of smell is sharp. Probably the sharpest in the house beside's Hiyori's and Shinji's. Plus, while I was taking a walk with Love the other night, I saw someone jump out of your window. He was wearing white and his strength matched ours. And the hollow mask on his face gave it away he was an espada. I was going to come up and see if everything was alright, but your spiritual pressure seemed stable so I left you alone. I guarantee you, I haven't told anyone and won't unless you want me to." Ichigo opens his mouth, then closes it.

Fantastic, his little secret isn't such a secret after all. Someone did know, and he has a feeling Rangiku might too with the little hint's she's been giving, but he hasn't confronted her about it. He should be feeling terrified to know other people are catching on, and deep down inside he is. But the thrill of danger and the under wraps of he and Grimmjow's relationship send a chill down his spine. Their relationship is confidential, and sneaking from Hueco Mundo and the watchful eyes of Soul Society is exciting to Ichigo. It really is like Shakespeare but in real life.

"Once again, thank you, Rose. Grimmjow has been on my mind a lot lately and I have literally no one else to talk about this with. I'm not in love with him or anything, not even close to love. It's more of a crush I guess. I think he's really attractive and I've never felt this way about someone before. Sneaking off to see each other at night is risky, I know, but we haven't gotten caught yet." Rose has given his complete attention to Ichigo now, if he hasn't already. A human and an arrancar together? It's something that's never been heard of before, at least not in Rose's case.

"It feels good to spare with Grimmjow, but the little conversations we have when we're not fighting are pretty awesome too. When he's not being a complete blood-thirsty maniac, he's actually really nice to sit down and have a conversation with." Rose tilts his head.

"And do you think he feels the same way about you? Remember, he is a hollow." Ichigo bites his lip at the question. Dose Grimmjow feel the same way? Is he even capable of having romantic feelings?

He hesitates to answer, "I...think so? The other night when we spared I felt so drained. I had felt so tired that night from fighting for more than an hour with him, on top of school and training here. I passed out after we fought and he brought me home, risking himself getting caught by shinigami for my sake. I don't think he would have done that if he didn't feel a little something. So, I guess im trying to say I think he does." Rose gently places a hand on his shoulder.

"As cheesy and cliche as it sounds to a young lad like you, follow your heart Ichigo. Im a huge romantic and loveeeeee stuff like this! I promise to keep my mouth shut, and if you ever need to vent im here for you. I just hope you have everything under control."

The door suddenly slams open, and both look back to see Shinji enter with a frown on his face and toothpick in his mouth. Rose pouts at him and places his hands on his hips, storming up to the other blonde man.

"What the hell Shinji? We can't keep replacing door's in here just because you don't know how to knock properly!" Shinji spits the toothpick at Rose's face, Rose shriek's in disgusts, and grabs Ichigo from the balcony and back downstairs.

"His thirty minutes are up, it's time for him to come back and train. You guys can finish whatever the hell you were talking about later." Rose crosses his arms and huffs in embarrassment. However, he catches the look Shinji gives, ignoring Ichigo's shouting, and gives Shinji and nod. Shinji groans and throw's Ichigo over his shoulder, heading back down to the basement.

* * *

 

Aizen's right eye unconsciously twitches, and that lets the Espada and everyone in the room know.

Aizen is pissed.

Not only is Grimmjow missing, which isn't a surprise to some of the Espada recently, but Starrk has now gone missing as well. Starrk is Aizen's most prized Espada, besides Ulquiorra, and having the strongest Espada also missing from the table doesn't look good on his part.

"Has anyone seen Starrk or Grimmjow recently?" Aizen asks in a cool tone, upset with himself that he unknowingly let a bit of his anger roll off of him. He knows exactly where both of his Espada are, but he wants to know if any of his other Espada are sneaking off into the human world as well. All of the Espada shake their heads, except for Nnoitra who has a huge grin on his face and Szayel who pushes his glasses up.

"I wouldn't worry about them too much Lord Aizen. They're both arrancar that, while espada, still hunt and eat. They're probably out in the desert hunting. We can't survive off of human food like you can." Szayel didn't intend to sound as bitter as he did, but he has a bug that follows Grimmjow whenever he enters the human world and he doesn't want Aizen to ruin his research. Which is why he's defending the two, something he would never normally do.

"I see. Well, I guess they can be informed later of the news if they are unavailable at the moment...Kaname, I have some business to attend to, continue on with the meeting."

"Yes, sir." Aizen stands up and heads back upstairs, Gin right on his heels.

Gin silently follows the man back up to Aizen's bedroom and closes the door behind him. He joins Aizen on the huge terrace and sit's beside the brown-haired man.

Aizen let's out a sigh and a random arrancar comes over to his table to pour him a glass of wine. He shoos the random hollow out of the room and gestures for Gin to come join him for a drink. Gin does so without hesitation and pours a glass of wine for himself.

"Ya seem ta be troubled sir? What's the problem?" Aizen eyes Gin up and down, then takes a sip of his drink and set's the glass back down on the table. He crosses his legs and stares at Gin with a raised eyebrow.

"My espada are sneaking off into the human world without my permission, Gin." Gin takes a sip of his drink as well and watches a dust cloud in the distance roll by.

"So yer mad because some of yer army are sneaking off and doing things without permission. That's awfully sneaky of them...What do you think they could be doing?" Gin is curious to see if Aizen actually knows what they are doing, or if he just knows that they're in the human world and is guessing.

"My guess would be to spy on Ichigo Kurosaki, but then again I don't blame my Espada for being curious. However, I am not pleased at their disobedience. They'll be punished the next time they come back." Gin suddenly gets up and places himself right behind Aizen's chair, Aizen watching his every move. He wraps his arms around Aizen's shoulder's and mushes his face against the other man's.

"I wouldn't be too hard on them Aizen, they can't help but be curious. Starrk and Grimmjow can take care of themselves ya know? They're not children, so cut them some slack." Aizen narrows his eyes, and carefully places a hand on one of Gin's arms.

"Funny for you to say Gin. If you think there is no need for punishment, what do you suggest then?" A chuckle comes from Gin.

"I say to let them be for now. War is coming upon us and soon they won't be able to move freely anymore. Leave them be Aizen." Gin hoped he hadn't sounded too bitter, and it seems Aizen didn't catch on.

"Then I will let them be for the time being...However, should they kill a captain or anyone of importance while sneaking away, there will be discipline. But you're right, I don't really blame my Espada for their unorthodox behavior." Gin hums in agreement, pushing his head to rest against the crock of Aizen's shoulder.

Oh, how Gin wishes he could snap Aizen's neck off right here and now. To be so close to the man that caused Rangiku so much pain and not be able to kill him is making Gin go crazy. This arrogant, egotistical, pompous, power-hungry man that doesn't deserve all the power he has.

His thoughts begin to drift towards what Rangiku is doing at this very moment. He misses her so dearly and wishes he could hold her in his arms and kiss her once more. But in all honesty, things could be a lot worse while he plots his revenge. And Los Noches isn't so bad. Neither is Aizen, who slyly weave's a hand into one of his own. Gin squeeze's his hand back and they both watch another sandstorm pass by them, into the silent night of Las Noches.

Gin is a really messed up man, he is.

* * *

 

  
"Ow, Fuck!" Ichigo scream's, grabbing for his right hand that got bent backwards.

"Shit, Ichigo are you okay!?" Renji yells, Zabimaru returning back to it's original form while he rushes over to Ichigo.

Ichigo had stopped by after school with Chad, Chad insisting he come over to Kisuke's shop since Renji wouldn't stop bragging about defeating Ichigo with his new power. Ichigo obliged and Rukia joined them, the three eating dinner and immediately heading over to Kisuke's shop. Uryu decided to stay behind and study with Orihime at her place.

The spare had been going great, until Ichigo's right arm decided to act up, from his previous spare with Grimmjow, and Zabimaru snatched it by the wrist. Renji hadn't been paying attention and slung Ichigo towards the wall, accidentally bending Ichigo's wrists the opposite direction.

Rukia is the first to reach Ichgio with a first aid kit ready in her hand.

"Ichigo, are you alright? Show me your hand!" Ichigo shoos her away, telling her he's fine. But its Rukia and she's stubborn and persistent, so he shows her his hand. She gasps at how nasty the injury looks and looks up at Chad and Renji. "Renji, go ask Kisuke where the ice is and grab a bag for Ichigo. Chad, hold Ichigo still while I wrap his hand. Out of all the times not the have Orihime around, why the hell do you boy's fight so hard?" Ichigo mutters something along the lines of not needing help under his breath, making Rukia frown.

Chad sits beside Ichigo to hold him still, and Rukia gets to work on his hand and wrists. She notes his arm has previously been bruised from the night before but doesn't say anything. If Ichigo wants to train on his own that's fine, but not telling anyone that he's hurt or going to Orihime to heal his injuries is making Rukia a bit suspicious. She would talk to him about it another time.

Moments later, Renji arrives back downstairs with Kisuke, Yoruichi in cat form sitting on Kisuke's shoulders, and a bag of ice.

"Guy's, seriously, im fine!" Kisuke takes his hand to inspect it and has Renji give him the bag of ice. The older man shakes his head and places it on Ichigo's wrists, letting it rest on Ichigo's hand for a couple of minutes to tone down the swelling.

"Yep, definitely not broken but you've really sprained it. If you dont let it heal until you can see Orihime, you really will break it. No more fighting for you today." Kisuke stands up, waving his fan.

"But Kis-Whoa, hey, watch it!" Ichigo stands up, only to be shoved upstairs and out the shop by Kisuke. Ichigo looks back into the shop and glares at the blonde man when they get outside.

"Go home Ichi, you're obviously not gonna be able to spare like that. You need rest. Go read a book or do whatever you teens do these days without hurting yourself!" Ichigo opens his mouth to protest but realizes it's Kisuke he's talking to, and if Kisuke says to go home he should.

"Fine, whatever." Ichigo begins to storm off into the night.

"Oh and Ichigo!" Ichigo grumpily turns back to face Kisuke.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't..." The look in Kisuke's unusually icy grey eyes sends a shiver down Ichigo's body and makes the boy gulp. Ichigo simply nods and goes back to walking, trying to shake off the feeling of Kisuke and his underline warning.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and flies up into the sky, aimlessly walking back to his house.

His soul reaper badge starts to go off, and the spiritual pressure of a strong hollow is nearby. He immediately flies towards it, Zangetsu ready at hand. When he arrives, Rangiku and Yumichika are already there and Rangiku uses her bankai to kill the hollow.

"Guess the party's over, huh?" He lands next to her and she turns to him with a beautiful smile on her face.

"You're a little late Ichi, but it's good to see you tonight! How was your test today?"

The boy shyly scratches the back of his head, "It was good, haven't seen you since yesterday when we all had dinner at Orihime's." He looks over at the other pretty soul reaper. "What about you Yumichika? How are you and Ikkaku doing at Keigo's? Hope his sister isn't bothering you too much. She can be a bit overbearing at times." Yumichika flip's his hair over his shoulder.

"She's annoying as ever when it comes to Ikkaku and has a weird fetish for bald men, but other than her and her tacky taste in clothes and guys, it's been good. Glad to see you're doing alright as well...What happened to your hand?" Ichigo notice's the pair staring at his bandaged hand and sighs, putting Zangetsu away.

"Renji almost broke it while we were training tonight and Kisuke kicked me out of his shop and told me to rest. Don't worry, it'll heal in no time, but no sparing with this hand for a bit. Doctor's order."

Rangiku shakes her head and step's closer to him. "You boys can play so rough, would it kill you to take it easy for once Ichi? You're so uptight and worried about getting stronger, and you always worry about everyone else. But has anyone ever stopped to ask how you're doing...Is everything okay Ichigo?" It's a simple question really, but for some reason, Ichigo can't muster up a proper response.

The loud sound of a wild big cat roaring distracts Ichigo from answering, and the trio quickly looks up into the forest covered mountains ahead of them. The tree's completely cover the dark forest, so no one can see anything in particular, but the animal sounds close by. And from the spiritual pressure, Ichigo knows exactly what made that noise.

Rangiku puts a hand under her chin, "I wasn't aware that there were mountain lions in this region, were you Yumi?" She looks at Yumichika who shakes his head, equally confused as her. "Well, best not stay too long to find out what the hell it is. It's probably angry we're in its territory, so let's head back home." She jumps into the air, Yumichika on her heels.

But, Ichigo stands still looking up at the trees, a blank look on his face.

"Ichigo, are you comi-"

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Ichigo runs into the darkness of the forest, disappearing from the two soul reaper lieutenants.

"Ichigo wait!" Yumichika yells and is about to go after him, but is stopped by the pull of Rangiku tugging his uniform sleeve. He's looks back her and is surprised to see her smirking. She gives him a wink and silently tells him to follow her. He blinks, knowing Rangiku to only ever smirk at him like that when she had some juicy gossip. So, he quietly lets her lead the way, both following Ichigo's trail sneakily up the mountain.

* * *

 

Moments have passed now and he feels like he's been running forever.

The sound of a big cat growling a few feet away him makes stop. He gulps, curiosity getting the best of him, and pushes his way through the foliage around him. He separates a few vines and see's Grimmjow panting ahead of him, growling down at a large dead animal at his feet.

He looks up at Ichigo with a feral look in his eyes and grins, quickly gaining his composure back.

"Hey, soul reaper." Ichigo raises an eyebrow at the arrancar and steps closer towards him until he's only a couple feet away. He looks down at the dead animal then back up at Grimmjow, trying to adjust his eyes in the darkness of the forest. His only source of light is the moon, but he can use his hollow power's to see clearly if he wants to. That's not a good idea with him around Grimmjow though, he bitterly thinks, mentally cursing out his sexual, perverted hollow.

"What did you do?" He asks, trying to distract himself from thinking about Shiro.

Grimmjow growls and kicks the animal at his feet. "This damn animal came out of nowhere and fucking attacked me. I didn't want to cause any attention so I killed it without using my powers. The fucker put up quiet a fight though..." Grimmjow's glowing blue eyes settle on Ichigo's bandaged hand and in an instant, he's face to face with Ichigo and grabs for the human boy's hand. Surprisingly, he's gentle with it while inspecting the damage.

"Who did this?" He asks, turning Ichigo's hand around to look at the other side.

"It doesn't matter. It was only a little sc-"

"Who. I can smell the red-haired guy all over you. Did he do this to you?" Ichigo blinks, because it almost sounds like Grimmjow is jealous?

"We weren't fighting seriously, it was only an accident. It's not that serious-"

"I'll kill him for touching what's mine." Grimmjow feels like ripping Renji to pieces for hurting his prey. If anyone is going to hurt Ichigo, it is him and only him.

His pride is getting the best of him right now, and he wants Renji to know that should he ever hurt Ichigo again, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him. It is only natural for him to feel this way, Grimmjow is an alpha after all. But an alpha trying to protect something that isn't it's mate, part of the pack or it's cubs is unheard of. So Grimmjow isn't sure why he wants to kill Renji so badly, minus the murderous hollow part, on Ichigo's behalf. In fact, he would kill anyone that hurt Ichigo for that matter, male or female, young or old, it doesn't matter to him.

"You're not going to kill Renji. So stop acting like a damn child Grimmjow. You can't go off killing lieutenants of Soul Society, who also happen to be close friends of mine. And im fine, so don't worry about it." Ichigo snatches his hand away. Ridiculous is the first thought that comes to Ichigo's mind at Grimmjow's behavior. So Renji almost broke his wrist? It was an accident that Ichigo couldn't understand why Grimmjow is so bent out of shape about.

He's already stressed enough knowing the fact that some people know about him and Grimmjow, school itself, and his noisy friends and family. So, he takes a deep breath. He exhales and closes his eyes, the sounds of the crickets and other sounds of the night calming him down. There's so much on his plate right now, between exams, the Espada, Aizen, Soul Society, his family, his friends, his mother. All these things to think about, but it dawns on Ichigo at that moment that he really does worry about everyone else so much. But when does he take the time to care for himself? When did he ever stop to think about how he feels?

Maybe Rangiku is right about taking a breather, if only for a night.

"You know, I don't really feel like fighting tonight Grimmjow. You can do whatever you want, but I need a break from fighting for a night." Flying up into the trees in the blink of an eye, he races to the top and of the mountain. A smirk makes it's way upon his face and he looks back to see Grimmjow not too far away. Eager, he flash steps until he makes it to the highest tree in the forest. He climbs up to the thickest, highest branch to seat himself on and once he's settled, his eyes widen when he looks up.

Grimmjow seconds later finds Ichigo easily and feels the urge to pounce on him, but he refrains himself. Instead, he jumps up to the branch Ichigo is sitting on and plants himself right next to the human boy. He glances at Ichigo and turns his eyes towards the direction the boy is staring in. Looking up, Grimmjow doesn't find anything special, except for the massive amount of stars in the sky that he has never seen before. On second thought, his own glowing blue eyes widen too, noting that he has never seen anything like this before in Hueco Mundo. The black sky and the moon were the only things they had when he had the time to gaze up at the sky, but never anything like this.

Ichigo tilts his head in Grimmjow's direction and a soft chuckle escapes his lips. It's seem yet another earth thing Grimmjow is intrigued by, by the look on his face at least. Grimmjow instantly turns his head and bare his fangs at him, and Ichigo puts his hands up in defense. But, Ichigo can't help it. Grimmjow looks like a child who is being taken to a candy shop for the first time ever in their life. It is an adorable sight, but he would never tell Grimmjow that out loud unless he wants a black eye or a serious bruise.

"Is there something funny Kurosaki?" Ichigo blinks, realizing this is the first time Grimmjow has ever said his name.

"Uh...N-No. You just seemed surprised about the sky is all. Isn't Hueco Mundo the realm of eternal night and hollows? You can see a view like this anytime you want." Grimmjow scoffs and looks back up at the sky.

"Nah, you can't. For your information, we don't have...this. There's the dark skies of Hueco Mundo and the moon, but we don't have..."

"Stars." Ichigo finishes for him, because going to Hueco Mundo to see Grimmjow's world fascinates him even more now. A world of never ending night, yet with no stars?

"Yeah...Don't take me for a fool boy, I know what stars are. But I rarely come to the human world. And when I do, I don't have time to sit down and look at the sky like you do."

"Well now you can." Ichigo smiles at Grimmjow, who looks down at Ichigo again. "We're not fighting and you're not on a mission right? It won't kill you to settle down and relax with me for a second. Actually, it's a perfect night to star gaze, I can even teach you about the constellations!" A blue brow raises up.

"Constellations?" The cat-hollow questions, extremely curious now.

"Well, to put it in simple terms from straight out the dictionary. A constellation is a group of stars that forms an imaginary outline or meaningful pattern on the celestial sphere, typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, a god, or an inanimate object." Ichigo points towards a few stars in the sky, Grimmjow following where the hand is pointing. "That there, that's a common constellation you see at night. It's called the little dipper and it's shaped like a frying pan. You...You do know what a frying pan is right?" Ichigo hesitantly asks.

This makes Grimmjow glare at him, "I may be a hollow, but im not a fucking idiot. Yes, I know what a damn frying pan and kitchen utensils are." Ichigo sighs and scratches the back of his head, embarrassment written on his face.

"Sorry, my mistake. Im still unsure of what you are and aren't use to is all." He waves his hand dismissively. "Anyway, oh! That one reminds me of you, it's called the Leo for obvious reasons. See, it's shaped like a cat. And that one over there...It's called Cancer, and besides it is Aries." By the blank look on Grimmjow's face, he doesn't know what they are, but that's alright Ichigo thinks.

"Are those suppose to be people?" Ichigo shakes his head.

"No, there actually based off of zodiac signs. You know, the big twelve signs and birthday's?"

"You mean the day I was born Grimmjow? Im aware of what a birthday is, but i've never heard of....what the hell did you call them again?"

Ichigo leans back to relax and gets himself comfortable. He doesn't mind teaching Grimmjow about human worlds things, if it's something that could make him become closer with the aggressive hollow. And it makes him happy knowing Grimmjow equally wants to learn about these things.

* * *

 

"Rangiku, what the hell is going on? Shouldn't we tell Soul Society about this!?" Yumichika whispers harshly.

When he had asked Rangiku before why they were following Ichigo, she shushed him and told him she would explain when they got back to the city. They followed him until they stopped in a tree nearby to see him about a foot away from a blue-haired espada. He was about to release his bankai and charge at the hollow, but Rangiku grabbed his hand and shook her head. By the calm look on her face, it dawned on Yumaichika that this probably wasn't her first time catching these two rendezvous somewhere.

He proceeded to ask her about it and she winked at him in response. They watched the hollow and human interact and then minutes later, they were on the move again, a few feet back and downwind so the hollow wouldn't catch their scent.

And now here the two shinigami are watching the hollow and human boy sitting next to each other, very closely, having a casual conversation. Which surprises Yumichika a lot. Since when do hollows act civil and sit next to humans without killing them? Last time Yumichika checked, hollows are sadistic creatures that do nothing but kill and destroy.

Rangiku flips her hair over her shoulder, "Tell me Yumichika, what do you see up there?" Yumichika stares at her like she's crazy and points up at the two. He glances at them, then back at her.

"I see a very dangerous hollow sitting next to Ichigo who needs to be protected at all costs. We need to go up there and-" Rangiku shakes her head and giggles at him.

"Hmmmm, nope, try again! Look harder Yumi, beyond a shinigami and an arrancar. Tell me what you see then." Yumichika squints and stares up at the pair for a moment before pouting and crossing his arms.

"Im not sure what you're getting at Ran, but all I see up there is a human and a hollow. Why don't you tell me what you see up there?" Rangiku hums and stares up at the two with a dreamy look in her eyes, a look that Yumichika has only ever seen when he caught her staring at Gin. Or anytime she was with Gin in general, which of course Yumichika knows because he is one of the only people that knew Rangiku and Gin had a secret affair going on. He is one for gossip after all, and Rangiku wasn't afraid to give him details when he found out. They are very close friends after all, have been for centuries.

"You know what I see up there Yumi? I see two very different people from different worlds destined to be lovers." Yumichika blinks at her, then back up at the pair as well.

"Oh really now?" The two give a low startled squeak at the new voice behind them and turn around to see Ikkaku coming towards them. He lands on the other side of Yumichika, careful not the shake the tree while landing on the branch.

"Ikkaku, what the hell are you doing here? You scared us half to death!" Yumichika quietly yells at him while a hand comes up to hold his startled heart.

"I could ask you two the same thing. It shouldn't take you two more than an hour to kill a hollow, so I thought you were in trouble and came looking for you two." Rangiku and Yumichika glance at each other before looking back at the bald man. "And here I find you two basically stalking Ichigo and his boyfriend? I only tuned in on the last part of your conversation, but when did he get into a relationship with an Espada? We should really tell the captain about this." Ikkaku isn't one to judge about someone's love life, but for Ichigo to be with a hollow, let alone an Espada? The whole scenario seems riddled with disaster.

A frustrated groan escapes from Rangiku's mouth, "No, we are not going to tell anybody okay? We're going to leave Ichigo alone and not tell the captain about this. Do you know what would happen if Soul Society got information that Ichigo is secretly seeing an Espada? He could be imprisoned, or worse, killed. The captain commander is ruthless. I mean, we all know what was going to happen to Rukia a couple months ago..." Yumichika rests a hand on her shoulder.

"Ran, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Ichigo, we're just worried about him is all." He says, and Ikkaku crosses his arms and nods in agreement.

"Well if you're that worried, shut up and keep watching. He's not in any danger." The three fall silent and go to watch the pair above them.

* * *

 

An hour later after Ichigo explains the Zodiac signs and the various constellations that happen to be out and visible tonight, it seems that Grimmjow caught on to everything rather quickly.

"I see, so if im a Leo and you're a cancer, does that mean we're compatible?"

"Hmmm," Ichigo puts a hand on his chin and a blush rises up to his face, remembering what signs were compatible and which were not. "Actually we're right next to each other when it comes to the signs and make a great pair-Er, yes, we are compatible. Leo and Cancer make for a great friendship and more, as long as both give mutual understanding to one another ...uh..." He peers at Grimmjow who's smirking at him and wants to jump off the tree now. Why does he have to make everything so awkward around the arrancar?

"Oh, something interesting about Leo's and Cancer's I should know?" Grimmjow leers at him, and Ichigo scoots away and brings his knee up to rest on.

"Tch, no! Im changing to subject now." Grimmjow laughs, and this makes Ichigo pause. There hasn't been a time where he has heard Grimmjow genuinely laugh before. Yeah, he chuckles when he's acting cocky or manically laughs when he's in the fighting mood, but never a straight laugh. It's actually kinda nice and Ichigo doesn't say a word, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Grimmjow points at the sky, "What about the clouds? I know you human have silly traditions and make up things all the time, so is cloud watching a thing?" Ichigo narrows his eyes at the hollow.

"Actually it is. And while it may be silly to you, it's actually really fun if you give it a chance..." He snaps at the hollow and points at a cloud. "That one up there looks like a whale. Now you go and give it a try. I promise it won't hurt you Grimmjow." There goes that word promise, Grimmjow thinks, and he observes the boy.

"Alright fine..." He stares until he finds a cloud that catches his attention, "Those two clouds over there, it looks like two lions attacking each other." Ichigo follows where he's looking, then stares off at another cloud.

"Oh, that one over there looks like a little rabbit. And the one next to it looks like a kitten. See? Not so bad right?" He lightly laughs, and unconsciously lets his hand slide over to where Grimmjow's only one is resting. Their hands aren't touching, but the movement makes Grimmjow look down at their hands and he puts his own back in his lap. He's never one to hand hold, and a cute human boy isn't going to start something cheesy like that with him now. He isn't human, so why engage himself to do stupid human romantic things they do?

They sit silently and continue to comment on various clouds and shapes. But it's coming close to twelve am though, so their sky gazing fun has to end unfortunately due to Ichigo having school in the morning. Ichigo debates on staying longer with Grimmjow and having Kon go to school for him instead, but decides against it.

"Well, it's been fun, but I have to go back home now Grimmjow. I've got a test in the morning." Grimmjow says nothing and Ichigo stands up to head back.

Everything seems fine for a moment, but the sound of something snapping catches their attention. They stare at each other for a second and down they both begin to fall, the weight of Ichigo standing breaking the branch.

Unlike last time, they fall very quickly and land harshly on the forest ground.

"Oww, fucking hell." Grimmjow groans, because this time he is the one to land first, and he's pretty sure his back is bleeding now. He can literately feel sticks protruding in his back, but it isn't hurting him as much as it is annoying to know his back is scratched up. He starts to sit up, but weight on his chest stops him and he glances down at Ichigo who's on top of him.

Ichigo lowly groans and lifts his face up, and he comes face to face with Grimmjow. A small yelp escapes from him, surprised at how close their faces are to each other's and he sits up, face fully red.

"Sorry Grimmjow, I-"

"You're a fucking idiot Kurosaki, and watch your damn weight next time. Can't believe you made a fucking thick branch like that snap." Ichigo's eyes go wide at the comment and he feels shocked and angry all at once. Grimmjow curses at him, then comments on his weight, basically calling him fat?

 _"Wow, what a way to ruin a moment."_ Shiro thinks bitterly.

 **"Well, hollows were never romantic creatures to begin with...** " Zangetsu comments.

 _"Speak for yourself buddy, im pretty fucking romantic if I do say so myself. At least I wouldn't call someone I like fat."_ Zangetsu gives him a narrowed look.

 **"No, you would just fight them until the brink of death because you're crazy Shiro."** Shiro starts to howl with laughter and Zangetsu shakes his head.

"You know what, it was a nice night until you said that. Fuck you Grimmjow, im leaving." Ichigo stands up with red cheeks and starts to march away, and Grimmjow barks out laughing. So he hurt the boy's feelings by commenting on his weight, so what? It's not like he really cares about how the boy feels. If anything, the kid should learn to grow a back bone if little shit like that affects him.

Fuck. Grimmjow starts to regret what he said and is torn from leaving the boy alone and chasing after him. He likes the boy, really, he does, and it won't do any good to have Ichigo upset because of his rude choice of words. He literatilly called him over weight for breaking an old branch and laughed at him too.

 _"Way to go Grimmjow..."_ He thinks to himself.

He lets out a growl of frustration and covers his face with his hand. Staring up at the sky, it's almost like the stars are mocking him and he wants to launch a cero in the sky out of anger. He closes his eyes and takes a breath, and stands up to dust himself off. There's only one thing to do if he wants to make this right.

He sonido's to where Ichigo is, who's not that far away, and jumps infront of the boy. Ichigo backs away, spooked that Grimmjow came out of nowhere. Angry brown eyes glare into cool blue ones. Ichigo tries to push him out of the way, but when that fails he starts to walk around him. Grimmjow grin's at him and steps in his way again, blocking his path. Again, Ichigo tries to step left and walk around him, and again, Grimmjow also steps left and blocks him.

Ichigo wants to scream. "If you're trying to make me angrier, then you've succeeded. Go home and fuck off Grimmj-" Grimmjow grabs his face roughly, cutting Ichigo off from finishing his sentence.

"My bad." It is Grimmjow's way of saying sorry, and Ichigo is surprised he even followed him to say that. He didn't take Grimmjow to be someone to say sorry, but it makes him smile to know the hollow at least gave it an effort to do so. Grimmjow releases his face and looks away, the smallest blush on his face if you squint.

Ichigo rubs his face and steps closer to Grimmjow, "If that was your way of saying sorry, apology accepted. Goodnight Grimmjow." He begins to walks pass Grimmjow, however, a hand on his arm makes him pause and stare back at the arrancar. Ichigo blinks twice at the hand holding his arm and raises an orange eyebrow upward. Is Grimmjow blushing? No, it was probably the moon and the darkness of the night playing tricks on him.

"What is it Grimm..." Fully turning around, Grimmjow is so close that their bodies are pressing together. Heat rushes up to Ichigo's face, and Grimmjow brings his hand up to tilt Ichigo's head back, gently this time.

But Grimmjow stops, and it's not because he's shy, far from that. He's nervous, because he can't stop his body from moving and his mind wanting to make contact with Ichigo. This boy, this...this human has him hooked. And for once, it isn't making him angry, but it's defiantly making him realize how deprived he is of having intimate contact with someone. He can't even remember the last time he fucked somebody, maybe a couple of weeks ago before he started spying on Ichigo?

"Oh for pete's sake Grimmjow." Ichigo has never kissed someone before, but if he is going to have his first kiss it should be with someone he likes, like Grimmjow. Obviously, the arrancar is having second thought's for some reason, but Ichigo is determined and Grimmjow is too close to just let go and walk away like this never happened. Hastily, Ichigo wraps an arm around Grimmjow's neck, the other around the arrancar's waist and leans up to place his lips against the hollow's.

It takes a second for Grimmjow to register that Ichigo lips were against his, and instinct takes over immediately. He roughly pushes Ichigo against the nearest tree and practically devours the boy. Ichigo excepted his first kiss with someone to be smooth, gentle, chaste. But this is Grimmjow we're fucking talking about, those three words and Grimmjow don't even go in the same sentence. And Ichigo certainly can't complain because wow, Grimmjow is a pretty damn good kisser. Deep down, a wild kiss like this is what he anticipated from Grimmjow anyway.

Grimmjow shifts his hand from Ichigo's face to grab one of his legs, and lift's it up to his waist to bring them closer together. Ichigo happily wraps that leg around Grimmjow's waist to push the other further into him, and slyly wraps his arms around Grimmjow's neck, weaving one into his wild blue locks. Fuck, Ichigo's heart is racing and his eyes flutter close. He didn't know being in contact with someone like this could feel this amazing and he doesn't want this to stop.

What sounded like a wolf, or strangely a coyote, startles Grimmjow, and he detaches his lips from the boy. Their both panting, noses and lips still touching, and neither one letting go of the other.

Another howl is heard and Grimmjow lets out a low rumble from his throat. He goes in to give Ichigo one more small kiss, Ichigo just as eager to give him one too. Slowly, he let's Ichigo leg down, and Ichigo unhurriedly unwraps his arms from the hollow's neck. Grimmjow takes a step back and Ichigo follows him.

"Didn't you say you had school in the morning? You should go home and get some rest." Ichigo inhales and fully opens his eyes, not understanding why Grimmjow stopped so suddenly. Maybe the hollow hadn't had any intentions of kissing him and Ichigo rushed into it? But if it really bothered him, Grimmjow would have pushed him away and left already.

"Uh...R-Right..." He shakily breaths out and distances himself from Grimmjow. "Well, goodnight Grimmjow." Ichigo gives him one last look before jumping up into the sky. Grimmjow nods at him and watches the boy fly off into the distance, headed back home.

Grimmjow's eyes shift to his right, and he turns his body halfway to look into the dark forest. Hand in his pocket, he growls out,

"You can come out now Starrk, since you've been watching us the entire time." A figure in all white begins to shuffle around in the trees, and a tall, light-skinned espada with wavy brown hair and shining silver eyes steps out from the darkness.

"Mi, mi amigo. No era mi intención arruinar tu integridad emocional con tu amor..." Grimmjow rolls his eyes at the older arrancar and feels like slicing his head off. It's not that he doesn't like Starrk, actually, he has a lot of respect for the wolf espada. You would think with being the strongest Espada, he would act arrogant like Barragan, or cocky like Nnoitra. But Starrk is laid back and never picks a fight with anyone, even though everyone knows Starrk would kill them in a heartbeat, especially if they hurt Lilynette. He's respected by all arrancar and espada, and chooses to keep to himself. But why the hell is he here right now though? Maybe Aizen sent him, Grimmjow wonders.

"Look, I don't give a fuck if Aizen sent you here to interrupt us-"

"Actually he didn't my friend." Grimmjow stares at the other confused, and Starrk stares back at him, a somewhat playful look in those silver eyes of his. "I actually snuck away on my own free will. I guess you could say, the boy has peaked my interest just as he has yours." Grimmjow takes a step closer to the wolf and his knuckles crack, sparks of red threateningly coming from his hand.

"Listen Starrk, I like you, but Ichigo is my prey and I will shove this cero down your throat if you try to take him from me. He's _mine_ , got it." He said in a more fact of tone than a question.

Starrk put's his hands up in defense in smirks, "No hay necesidad de violencia, amigo. Im not trying to necessarily steal your prey. It's what's inside of him that makes me...curioso, si lo harás. That's why i've been following him as well, and you wouldn't have even known I was watching if I didn't howl." The blue-haired hollow squints his eyes, his pupils narrowing into slits.

"What the fuck do you mean, inside of him?" Starrk lazily shrugs his shoulders and opens a garganta behind him.

"If you don't know what im talking about, there's no use of explaining it to you. You'll find out soon enough anyway, so let's go back home. Im tired." Taking a step closer, Starrk puts a hand on Grimmjow's shoulder and leans down to whisper in his ear, "And im not sure if you noticed but im not the only one watching. Three of Ichigo's friend's are just downwind and have been here as long as I have been, my friend."

Grimmjow looks down and hisses downwind, using his senses to pick up the scent of three shinigami below them. Starrk has a keener noise than him, so he's not surprised the older hollow caught on before he did. But like Starrk said, they are friends of Ichigo, so he doesn't attack and follows the wolf back home into the world of hollow's silently.

* * *

 

The three shinigami all hold their breath until the Espada completely disappear, and sigh with relief, looking at each other.

"Fucking hell Ran, that espada looked right in our direction just now!" Ikkaku yells and reaches over and gently smacks her head.

"Ow! Oh shut up Ikkaku, and paws off!" Rangiku glares and swats his hands away, but he's persistent and continues to smack her head. Yumichika pushes them both away harshly, being the one in the middle, and stands up. They both stare at the pretty male soul reaper, who's unusually silent.

"All my life, I always thought hollows were disgusting, horrid creatures. And I may sound like the biggest fool on the planet for saying this but...If there's more gorgeous hollow's like those two we just saw down there, sign me up to take a mission to go to Hueco Mundo." Rangiku barks out laughing and Ikkaku stares at Yumichika like he's lost his mind.

Rangiku stands up too and slings an arm around Yumichika's shoulders. "I second that! Did you see the brown haired one's eyes? He is sex in human..errr, arrancar form. I wonder what a night with him would be like!" Yumichika glares at her and shoves her away.

"Oh no Rangiku, I saw him first!" She smirks at him.

"But what if he's not into men?" He scoffs and twirls a lock of his hair around his finger.

"I highly doubt hollow's care about gender. Im pretty, that's all that matters!"

"Yeah, pretty ugly!" She glare's back, a spark of lighting forming between them at the tension.

Ikkaku stands up and smacks both of them upside their heads. "You're both crazy and it's late. This will be a secret between us, and if you two wanna gossip about hot hollow's keep it to yourself please. However, maybe if there was a beautiful woman espada, hypothetically, I would so be down to go." All three soul reapers glance at one another and laugh, and Rangiku links her arms with the two men.

"Well, let's turn in for the night boys. And unless Ichigo comes to one of us about it, don't interrogate him. It's his life to live, and who are we to interfere with what he wants?" They all nod in agreement, because Ichigo's life really isn't their's to control, neither is Soul Society's.

* * *

 

Starrk and Grimmjow enter the halls of Las Noches together, and the wolf snaps the garganta shut.

"I hope you two haven't been sneaking off to cause trouble. Lord Aizen is very displeased with your disappearance at the meeting today." The wolf and cat make eye contact with each other, then fully turn around to see huge, green emotionless eyes staring at them.

"Ulquiorra..." The name roll's off of Starrk's tongue.

Grimmjow glares at the smaller espada, "So the fuck what? Why are you even here in Starrk's palace? You're about three off Ulquiorra." He snaps, feeling very defensive since more of the Espada are catching on to what he has been doing. None of them cared about him before, so why the fuck is everybody all up in his business now?

Starrk lays a hand softly on Grimmjow's arm, "Por favor no luches, at least not in my palace. Im tired, and if you want to pick a fight, do it in your own palaces. You'll scare Lilynette if you go all out, then we'll really have a problem and im not in the mood to fight." Even though his aura is calm and his words didn't sound threatening, Grimmjow, even Ulquiorra, know not to try and provoke Starrk when Lilynette's name is brought up in conversation.

"Fine, as you two were then. But Grimmjow, do not forget about our mission in a few days. I would hope your time in the human world hasn't clouded your mind of your real mission." Blue eyes boar angrily into green ones, and Starrk sighs at the sudden tension that radiates through his palace now.

"Fuck you Ulquiorra, and mind your god damn business!"

"Well, I would if I didn't suspect your rendezvous with a human would hinder us in our mission, Grimmjow..." The sound of Starrk's quiet laugh makes the other two espada fall silent and avert their attention to the old wolf.

"Ironic that you're basically telling Grimmjow to not have his sight clouded because of his feelings, but the reason you're on a mission to kidnap a human girl is because you've become fond of a human yourself. You're not fooling anyone _Cuatro_ , or at least not me. I've been around too long to not have caught hint of your little obsession. And you yourself snuck into the human world a couple nights ago if I remember correctly. You can't fight what the heart wants, my friend." Ulquiorra glares at the wolf, but says nothing and silently walks away.

"Think what you will _Primera_ , but unlike you and Grimmjow, I recognize humans as disgusting creatures of no value or interest. I have no heart, therefore I feel nothing. Even if I were to have a heart in this form, it would not beat for a silly human girl. I am simply under the orders of Lord Aizen, that is all." Are Ulquiorra's last words before disappearing down the hall.

Grimmjow blinks at the wolf hollow, "Maybe your old age is getting to you like Barrigan, because why the hell would you think Ulquiorra has a thing for a human? It's Ulquiorra, a cold-heart bastard who doesn't even understand simple emotions like happiness we're talking about. A fucking prick like him could never be compatible with a bubbly human like her." Starrk hums and starts to walk back towards his room.

"All in due time Sexta, you'll see." He waves at the cat hollow, signaling his departure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, Ulquiorra finally enters the story and Starrk is starting to play his part *rubs hands* Stay tuned for more, and leave a review and/or constructive criticism and let me know if you liked this or not!


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